And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.. (Genesis 15:6 NIV)
Good Morning once again from everyone at Coffee Corner and Cellblock Ministries. We wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and pray each one of you are healthy and safe. Come on in and grab a cup-o-Joe. Today we have two blends of coffee. The first is a novelty coffee, or as some call it a flavored coffee. As you can probably guess yup, we have a pumpkin spice coffee. I will never understand the cult following of pumpkin spice but many of you like it so here it is. For those with more refined tastes we also have a medium roasted coffee blend from Ethiopia and Indonesia. This coffee has a earthy tones followed by hints of blueberry flavors. I hope you enjoy whichever coffee you enjoy. I also brought along some Mr. Sticky Sticky buns. These are the best sticky buns I have ever had, and nothing goes better with coffee than a good sticky bun except for maybe a coffee cake or an old-fashioned donut.
Any hoot I digress. Bubba and myself were talking this past month and it occurred to us that we have been doing this little ditty and newsletter for over 9 years or so. We really cannot believe it has been that long. My how time flies. Ah but such is life, I guess. This is why I try to remind myself every day to enjoy and relish every day God decides to allow me to open my eyes.
Well, we are in the month of November and that means Thanksgiving. And boy do we need to be reminded to be thankful more now than ever. Not only are we in the midst of a world-wide pandemic but it is an election year, and our nation is severely divided. I refuse to get in the middle of the majority of it, but I really think we all should step back, take a breather and while we are at take a chill pill. We are not going to get any where yelling and screaming at each other. We all need to take stock of ourselves and count our many blessings. Yes, there are bad people out there doing bad things, but we don’t have to get wrapped up in that. Yes, we need to stand with our brothers and sisters that are being persecuted but at the same time we can not act in the same way as those who are doing the persecutions. That is not the Christian way, we are to love and be compassionate. We are to listen and when needed protest peacefully.
Any hoot. I am all over the place today ain’t I? Soon Bubba is going to yell at me cause I will be going on too long and fill another page. He likes when I fill an even number of pages. So, I must press on. I do not want to get away from, or sweep under the carpet, what is going on in our world today. All the issues we are facing are huge, in and among themselves, let alone happening all at once.
I guess my biggest encouragement is, as Christians, we do not have to worry or fear like the world does. We must remember we are in covenant with the Lord Most High. He has vowed to watch over and take care of us. This covenant has been sealed with the blood of Christ on the cross. This covenant relationship which we have with God started way back from the beginning. God made a covenant with Adam. That covenant was simple as long as Adam did not eat the fruit of one tree he would be in fellowship with God and if he ate from the tree Adam would be banished, cursed and would die. From that point on God made covenants with several other people, the big ones were Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. With Christ he made the everlasting Covenant with all of us.
There are several things I want to illuminate for us concerning being in a covenant with God. The first thing we see is that entering into a covenant with God means we have entered into a relationship with God. Just like any relationship this means we have some responsibility in ensuring we uphold the covenant. We have to do our part. Well Jesus summed up our part the simplest way, we are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and we are to love others as ourselves. That is it. If we do that, God promises to be in relationship with us and bless us according to his good will.
The second thing we see with a covenant relationship is that to enter into one you must have faith. Now we are not talking blind faith or irrational belief, as so many people try to pin on Christianity. No instead the faith we are talking about here is proven faith with true knowledge. We hold scripture to be the written Word of God, the ultimate truth. When we read scripture correctly truths are revealed. Throughout Scripture God urges us to test Scripture out and in doing so we will see that his word is true. One thing I can tell you is that God has never let me down. What he says he will do, and he does what he says. Yet he does it in his way and his time not ours.
The last thing I would like to point out about being in a covenantal relationship with God is that it is communal. We do not enter it alone but in community with other believers. It is in the community of believers in which we build our faith together as we rely on each other and strengthen each other. This is why Paul warned people to not stop meeting together but be united together.
So what does all of that talk about covenant and being in covenant relationship have to do with our current situation and Thanksgiving you ask. As Sherlock Holmes would say ‘Elementary, my Dear Watson.” No matter where we find ourselves, whether in prison for 20 years, or locked in our house under quarantine, or in the hospital fighting COVID-19, or being persecuted for the color of our skin or for our political and moral beliefs, we should not fear for God is on our side. He is watching over us. And we are assured that as long as we follow his will he will bless us.
But wait. Lest you think I am a “Name it, claim it” pastor, sometimes, probably all the time, we will not see the fullness of his blessing in this life. Due to sin, even though we are in covenant relationship with God, some of us might experience some horrible circumstances in this life. However, this life is not all we have to look forward too. God has promised to come back again and set up a new heaven and new Earth. He has also promised to give all those who have faith in him a new perfect body and we will live eternally with him forever. We can not forget that as we go through our trials and tribulations on Earth. The pain and suffering we might spend here is but a blink of an eye when compared to all eternity.
And the way we remember that is by being thankful every day. We need to cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude knowing that nothing on this Earth and nothing not of this world can separate us from the Love of God. Seriously our knees should be hurting from the time we spend on them thanking God for all the blessings he has given us. Probably the easiest way to do this is by doing what it says in that old hymn Count your Blessings. “Count your Blessings, Name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done.”
This is one of the reasons why I love Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving reminds us to be thankful for our friends, family, and our God. It reminds us to count our blessings for the things we do have and for the ways God has blessed us. Maybe if we would count our blessings every day, we could begin to affect the world around us for when we are thankful it is near impossible for us to stay angry, divisive, and destructive. I have seen how even a simple heartfelt smile has diffused situations and turned situations around. Being thankful helps us to love others and feel compassion for them as well.
In closing, yes, I am finally done. I know I know I was long-winded today, good thing I made that extra pot of coffee. Any hoot. In closing, I just want to say how thankful I am to be able to write this little do-hickey for all you awesome people. I am thankful to have such an awesome friendship with Bubba, the man behind CellBlock Ministries, I am thankful for all my friends and family. Most importantly I am thankful for my God who has walked me through some very dark alleys and never gave up on me even when I gave up on him. If you do not know God today, if you have not entered into a covenant relationship with him, I urge you to do it today. You are not guaranteed tomorrow so do not wait another moment longer. Your life will never be the same. Just talk to him and tell him you believe in him and his son. Ask forgiveness for your sins and vow to follow him from this day forward. I guarantee you will not be sorry.
Until next month. In all things be thankful and may God bless you till we see each other again. Last one out make sure the coffee pots are unplugged and don’t forget to turn off the lights
Pastor Jonathan
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