The Voice

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Can we say praise the Lord. I am truly thankful for this opportunity that I have to share the Word of God with each and every one of you for the next few moments. I want to extend my thanks to my friend and brother, the Reverend John Easterling, who has invited me here to share in this moment with you all as we celebrate Pastor. And while I am on the subject, I want you to take a moment and thank God for the leaders he places in each and every one of our lives. He has ordained and appointed someone for everyone and for that we are forever thankful. Today, we are especially thankful for the leadership and the anointing on the life of the Angel of this House, the anointed and appointed Pastor Lena Easterling. Listen, I want to go into the Word, my goal is to get us out of here as quickly as the Lord allows.

Read: Acts 12:11-16

Acts 12:11–16 KJV 1900
And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter’s voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished.

Prayer & Subject: The Voice

Introduction

Each day we interact with hundreds of people through one mechanism or another. These interactions can take many forms as they can include in-person exchanges (meetings, conferences, and daily interaction), communication through written media (letters and papers), and increasingly they can take place virtually (text, phone calls, Zoom, Skype and others). We are in a place now where we hear more voices than ever before because the number of ways people can interact with you have increased throughout the decades to now, it is almost at a fever pitch. However, it has not always been this way but due to technological advances and population expansion, our society has become increasingly interconnected in some cases to an alarming degree. Whether you work with the public on your job or you log on to social media and read posts from hundreds of people you have connected with, your daily interactions are high and in our society, they are only increasing. But where and how did it start.
It all starts with the telephone which was invented in 1876...
Stories regarding who bares responsibility for its invention are murky but it is generally accepted that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in February 1876.
The telephone was invented as a method of communication designed to improve upon the technology of the telegraph which limited communication due to its inability to exceed certain rates of transmission and because it only allowed one-way communication at any given time.
You send a message at around 8 words per minute and someone else responds to you several moments later at the same speed.
With the telegraph, distance often imposed great pressure on the telegraph line as it decreased the speed that the words were sent.
In addition, the telegraph often required a middle-man in the form of a telegraph operator who would send and receive all messages which meant they were prone to misinterpretation or other errors that could make them less than useful.
Finally, the telegraph used only words to communicate and we all know that communication often includes tone, body language, and other factors that are nearly impossible to communicate in words alone, so often times telegraph based communication was limited because it was missing on the key expressive element brought out by The Voice.
And yet, the telegraph was faster than mail, it was more reliable than carrier pigeon, it was often cheaper than a messenger, and was relatively cheap to install/ or migrate. (It had its benefits).
And so, Alexander Graham Bell sought to create a system that allowed for two-way communication, worked better over long distances, eliminated the middle man, and most importantly.... It brought about the use of the voice in communication.
See, it is hard for us to imagine today but...
Prior to the invention of the telephone and later the radio (which came in 1995) the only way you heard someone’s voice was if they stood directly in front of you and spoke with you in conversation
In fact the only way you communicated with someone is if they spoke in front of you or sent you a letter/ or telegraph, both of which were not incredibly ubiquitous because the expense and the shear fact that at that time only a limited portion of the population could even read.
And I get why it is hard for us because in a country where the President can tweet at the drop off a dime or daily press conferences are a thing, it is hard to imagine a world where 80% of the population had never heard the voice of the President of the United States of America.
In a world where we have 2000 friends on Facebook and we see their posts on our social media page each day, it is hard to imagine living in a world where the people you talk to EVERYDAY are the sum-total of your world.
In a society where we send 6 Billion texts per day in the United States alone, it is difficult to wrap our heads around a society where the post office is the life blood of SOCIAL communication and not just bills and junk mail.
In a society where your opportunities to communicate were minimal… In a society where modes of communications were far fewer in number… In a society where voices were your only means of communication and were heard from a relatively small number of people… words held enormous power.
To here the voice of one person was an often an important experience, something especially true for someone you rarely heard.
We remember speeches like Lincoln’s Gettysburg address not so much because of their value over other speeches but we remember them in part because they are rare moments where a disjointed society came together around the words of one man...
Put simply, in a society where few words were spoken and even fewer words were heard… Voices held more power.
Now, we live in a society where the atmosphere around us is often stimulated and charged with the words of others.
People we have never met and people we will never hear from again speak into the atmosphere of our homes, the vault of our heart, and the sponge of out minds on a near continuous basis without pause or reprieve.
Between our phones, televisions, and computers we are constantly bombarded by speeches and thoughts of others… and this trend has pervaded our lives such that words have lost value.
Not to say that no one’s words matter but because the sheer number of voices we hear on a daily basis we find ourselves falling into a lull of constant communication and information where everything seems to be on equal footing with one another.
If the President makes statements everyday how can I ever truly elevate one of his speeches to a higher level than any of the others because they all seem to bear equal weight.
Voices have lost their value and many people find themselves struggling to overcome the clamor of 21st Century life just to stay relevant.
Celebrities are struggling to keep their status because social media has made it far easier to be famous because now you can post a video of your dog and have more followers on Instagram than Kim Kardashian.
It has now become commonplace for White House Press Conferences to fall into the abyss of news and updates about things going on around the globe.
This society has become lost in an endless cadre of voices of people seeking superintendence and others seeking clarity. Many have been left confused because they are seeking something that sticks out amidst the confusion. Its like trying to pick out a voice from a choir when everyone is singing a different song. And it leads me to ask this question....
If everyone is talking… who is speaking?
Within this question, we see our text for today.

Acts 12:11-16

We see in the text that Peter has just been freed from prison by the Angel of the Lord.
He was arrested by Herod who wanted to make an example out of the Christian leaders of that time, as he was persecuting all believers in an attempt to extinguish them.
What he had instead done was driven them underground and forced them to hide their belief but practice it nonetheless.
But he has Peter arrested and while he sat between two soldiers and was watched by the night watchmen of the prison, the Angel of the Lord visited Peter in his sleep and literally walked Peter out of his imprisonment.
And now we enter the period of the text where Peter is going to the house of Mary, John Mark’s mother to find shelter from persecution and any of those who may seek to arrest him again and possibly increase his crime for escaping judgement.
He arrives at the home where they are more or less having a service
They are reading the Word
Sharing stories
And praying for Peter’s release
They are doing all of this under the cover of night, lest they risk being persecuted and imprisoned just like Peter.
It is here that I truly begin my analysis of the text because I see Pastor Easterling represented all throughout this text.
At the point that Peter knocks on the door, Rhoda enters the scene for the first time.
I could see Pastor Easterling as Rhoda because of her faith but also because the important role she plays that in many ways goes overlooked.
See Rhoda was a house servant of the House of Mary and when they were in service, they were trusting her to keep watch but to also keep them informed.
If a soldier knocked, she had to put up a good front to prevent them being found out but she also had to make sure they were aware in a way that did not compromise her integrity.
She was faithful because in the midst of the confusion and commotion because she held to her responsibility to check the door and did not allow herself to forget the assignment to which she had been appointed by Mary, the Lady of the House.
In this situation however, it was not a soldier at the door but it was Peter and I love to see her faith because she KNEW it was Peter and she would not relent to the people who refused to believe her.
In many ways, Pastor Easterling is like Rhoda as she has constantly stood on her faith to declare God’s word.
She has remained faithful to her community as a Pastor and a leader.
She has remained committed to her family as a matriarch and intercessor.
She has been faithful to those who sit under the tree of her anointing. She HAS BEEN FAITHFUL.
And yet, today it is not in Rhoda that I want to talk about today.
Pastor Easterling also much like the Angel who freed Peter, a role which sits on the fringe of our text today.
You see, the Angel came at the moment of greatest trouble for Peter and was able to get him out of his situation.
Despite Peter being unable to get himself out of the situation and what seemed to be the impossible nature of the situation, the Angel showed up at just the right time to free him literally right from underneath his captors.
How many times have you been in a situation and all you could do was call Pastor and even if she only prayed, you felt like (if only for that moment) the trouble would go away.
Or even better, you called and she showed up at your door or by your hospital bed… And even if you were in the wrong or if you had done something horrible, even amidst the correction (that you knew was coming) she moved Heaven and Earth to get you out of your situation.
Even if she had to pull you directly from underneath your enemies, she would do what was necessary to get you out of your situation.
She is a warrior;
For the family
Her Church
Her Community
Her God
And yet still, I do not want to discuss the Angel as a representation of Pastor Easterling today.
In fact, today where I see Pastor Easterling most represented in this text is in the Apostle & Bishop Peter.
Peter is an accomplished Man of God at this point in his life.
Having walked with Jesus
Preached the Day of Pentecost
Saved Countless souls and baptized even more in the Holy Ghost
He has walked the chalk as a leader within the Christian movement even at this relatively early period in his ministry.
Even more so, God has personally dispatch an Angel to rescue him from his imprisonment and he has overcome two guards, a watchmen, and three gates to the prison all to reach the door of a friend and find himself stopped in his tracks.
Isn’t funny how you can overcome so many barriers just to reach a simple problem and be thwarted.
To me, it would be the equivalent of knowing the square root of pi by heart but then forgetting 2+2...
And yet, this is where we find Peter.
Peter is at the door waiting for entrance and what reminds me more than anything of Pastor Easterling is what it is that actually gets him into the doors in the first place.
Being a man like Peter you would think its his accomplishments that got him into the door.
Or you might event think its the gifts in his life that set him a part so he could get into this particular door.
You might believe that it was his attitude that got him into the door, or his resume, or his looks, or any of those things but that would all be wrong.
And you may look at Pastor Easterling today and think about her ministry and think its her resume that sets her apart, or how she looks, or who she is married to, or any of these things…
And while many of these things are important
What ultimately makes her a true gift to the Kingdom… What separates her from everyone else… What highlights her amid the clamor and confusion of 21st Century life.... IS HER VOICE.
Her voice can be heard as a clarion call above all the others because she has elected to give it over to God.

Closing

We thank God for her voice that is still crying in the wilderness, compelling men towards Christ.... A voice that we can all hear and immediately hear and know who it is but we can also hear it and immediately recognize the anointing that is on her life.
Society and our current way of life have taught us to take the voice for granted.
We just spend hours and countless resources trying to leverage our accomplishments, our followers, and our money against one another to elevate ourselves onto this pedestal created by our peers…
And by doing that, we have devalued everything that we have, including the voices of people around us and even ourselves.
But when it is all said and done, your accomplishments are meaningless but it is all about the weight those accomplishments carry.
What can you use your words to change.
How many lives can you change
How many jobs can you create
How many souls can you save
How many people can you minister to
And we THANK GOD for Pastor Easterling because despite all the influences to the contrary… She has used HER VOICE.
We thank God for a VOICE in the wilderness
We thank God for a VOICE crying out to GOD
We thank God for a VOICE speaking out against the wiles of the enemy
We thank God for a VOICE anointed by GOD.
We celebrate you Pastor Easterling because you have never allowed bigotry, racism, injustice, hate, sexism or any other stumbling block to hinder your voice.
You never let a closed door stop your voice. You never let the enemy stop your voice and we celebrate you because EVEN NOW your voice can be heard crying out to God. Right now their are men and women through this area who can attest to the fact that Jesus saves because of your voice. Their are young boys and young girls whose only example in ministry has been you walking throughout your life declaring the Word of God. Their are men and women RIGHT NOW, who can count themselves lucky and blessed to sit and have sat under the tree of your wisdom. And I count myself among those because you have sowed wisdom into me personally and I say Thank You.
We thank and praise God for you and we hope that God CONTINUALLY blesses you for your contributions to the Kingdom, the community, and society.
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